The present invention relates to a compact extractor which can be used for both wet and dry cleaning. In a typical extractor, a tank is used to contain a cleaning solution such as an aqueous detergent solution. This solution is then applied to the surface being cleaned such as a carpet, floor, upholstery, drapes, or the like through a suitable spray nozzle associated with a vacuum cleaning head. The cleaning solution is sprayed on the surface and then promptly extracted with the vacuum cleaning head to remove dirt and as much of the cleaning solution as possible.
Since the use of an extractor usually involves the transfer of a cleaning solution from one tank to a recovery or dirty cleaning solution tank, such devices have two tanks. The tanks have either been totally separate units which were set on the floor and then connected with suitable vacuum and liquid transfer hoses or the two tanks were combined into a single assembly. In order to combine the tanks into a single assembly, it was a common practice to have one of the tanks separable from the other and merely set within the outer tank. This presented a problem, however, in that the inner tank could not be removed from the outer tank without trailing liquid from the outer surface of the inner tank. When the two tanks were assembled as stacked tanks, it was a common practice to have the cleaning solution in the outer tank or bottom tank associated with a liquid pump and to have the spent or dirty solution tank stacked on top of this tank. This presented the problem in that the clean solution tank also had the weight of the pump associated with it so that when it had to be maneuvered or handled in filling and emptying the unnecessary weight of the pump also had to be contended with.
When the pump and vacuum source were mounted or assembled in a separate unit which was mounted on top of the stacked tanks, it was necessary to connect a hose from the pump to the clean liquid solution. This connection was usually made on the bottom of the upper assembly with the hose then trailing down into the tank. This presented a problem in that the top could not be removed without drawing the hose from the clean solution tank and, in turn, dripping liquid onto the person removing the upper assembly or onto the floor or carpet area adjacent to the assembly. It can be seen from the above discussion that the prior extractors had problems associated both with the tanks and with the pump and its hoses.